


(i think that possibly) maybe i'm falling for you

by iamthecosmos



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint is awesome, F/F, F/M, High School AU, M/M, Maria is a really good friend, Natasha is a confused baby gay, Steve and Maria are beards, steve is oblivious
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 03:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2606345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthecosmos/pseuds/iamthecosmos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing that Natasha had to look forward to in an entire school day was her post-third period cigarette.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(i think that possibly) maybe i'm falling for you

The only thing that Natasha had to look forward to in an entire school day was her post-third period cigarette.

She didn't know what she hated so much about third period. Maybe it was that the subject was AP Chemistry, which was pretty much just terrible because it existed, or maybe it was the fact that its teacher, Mr. Harrison, hadn’t stopped staring at her ass since the first day.

She was smart, don't get her wrong, most would even say her intelligence was above-average, but AP Chemistry required a certain amount of effort that she was usually not willing to exert. She could easily sleep with Mr. Harrison (who, to his credit, was really not _that_ ugly from a distance, and only looked to be in his mid-40s, not mid-50s) and get an A for the rest of the school year, but 1) she was not Clint and 2) she refused to become some pathetic high school cliché.

Clint would've laughed at her. "You're a slacker slash stoner with a sad family history that motivated your rebellious phase. You're the shining example of a pathetic high school cliché."

At least she hadn't fallen in love, and into bed, with her English teacher.

Anyway, post-third period cigarettes.

They were usually smoked behind the bleachers (also a cliché, Clint often pointed out), except for once, when the field was being inspected and she had to do it in a shed near the left wing of the school that was filled with sex toys.

Normally, Natasha would take her smoke breaks alone and spend some time with her thoughts before heading into class 20 minutes late. Of all the things Natasha Romanoff did, she didn't skip, at least not altogether. Of course, being 20 minutes late to fourth period everyday had earned her many a weekend detention in the past three years she'd spent at Shield, but it was never that bad if she was high when she showed up on Saturday morning.

One day, her alone time was rudely interrupted by none other than Steve Rogers and, perhaps more surprisingly, Maria Hill. Steve and Maria were the Golden Boy and Girl of Shield High, and therefore the assumed Golden Couple. They'd only officially been together for a year and a half or so, but they acted so much like a couple before that it seemed like they'd been together since middle school.

He was the All-American star pitcher of the baseball team with a genuine heart (and head of hair) of gold, and she was, well. Maria Hill was _everything_. "Someone's got a crush," Clint would've taunted, poking her in the arm with a finger she would have slapped away.

He would've only been half right. Natasha had spent years observing Maria Hill, and Clint, of course, took notice, during the short breaks he took in between observing Steve and observing Mr. Coulson – the aforementioned English teacher. Natasha hadn't really liked anyone in that way for most of her life (God, _like_? What was she, 11?), but she supposed that if she had to like someone, it would be Maria. But Natasha wasn't gay or anything.

She pulled an ear bud out of her right ear and a cigarette out of her mouth as the Golden Couple stopped and sat near the middle of the bleachers. Curiously, she turned her ear up toward them and listened carefully. If they had any good gossip to spill, Clint would want to hear it.

"I think I really like him, Maria," she heard Steve say.

 _Him_?

Maria sighed, long and slightly exasperated. "Stevie, we’re talking about Tony Stark. I mean, do you really know what you're doing with him?"

Natasha could almost see Steve nodding vehemently. "He's not like Bruce." _Bruce Banner_? The school's resident science nerd? "He doesn't care if we keep it under wraps; he even prefers it that way. And he's sweet to me. I-I like him a lot."

She sighed again, clearly disapproving. "Okay. If you like him, fine. But be careful, okay? I don’t trust him."

There was a brief pause. "Okay."

The two stayed up there and talked for a bit, but about nothing as substantial as what Natasha overheard earlier. The bell rang after some time, and Natasha scrambled to gather her things and head back to the school before Maria and Steve descended the bleachers. She needed to find Clint.

Steve _fucking_ Rogers was gay. So was Tony Stark. _And_ Bruce Banner. They were all gay and it wasn’t a recent development. It seemed to Natasha as if there was a whole parade of gays waiting for the right moment to march out of the closet.

Not that they would ever really get the opportunity to do so, however. People who lived in Shield thought that any individual who fell in the category of L, G, B, T, or any other non-cis/heteronormative label (Clint had taught her all of the correct terms) was like Bigfoot. Some crazy people would claim to have seen one, and still others believed they didn't exist, even though there was plenty of evidence. (Natasha didn't believe in Bigfoot, that was just a metaphor.)

She was one of those crazy people. Clint was one of the gayest things she'd ever seen.

Anyway, also like Bigfoot, if the people of Shield found out that there actually were non-straight people walking around their town, they would hunt them down and take them god knows where. Then, the advocates (Natasha) would protest and call for immediate release of the hostages back into the wild.

Clint would've said that her theory was very reducing of LGBTQ people in its comparison to a fictional monster, but Natasha was proud of herself for coming up with it. Fuck Clint.

After a few minutes of searching, she ultimately found him sitting at Mr. Coulson's desk in an empty classroom and told him everything. He didn’t believe her, of course, but she gave him her word. Eventually, Clint pulled on his pants and left a note for Mr. Coulson before the two of them took off to find Darcy. _Darcy_ was going to lose her shit.

Steve and Maria may have interrupted Natasha’s post-third period cigarette and made her miss all of fourth period, but it was totally worth it.

XXX

"What?" Darcy yelled.

Clint flinched a little at the volume and leaned away from her. She had bits of chocolate cookie clinging comically to her lips, so Natasha handed her a napkin before Darcy could spit them out at her when she talked. The junior took it, wiping her mouth hastily. "You're not serious."

Natasha nodded, popping a cherry tomato in her mouth. "When am I not serious?"

Darcy considered that, and then shrugged before her eyes went wide. "I need to blog about this."

She went to grab her phone, which was sitting next to her right hand ("In case of emergencies I need to keep my baby close," she always said), but unfortunately for her, Natasha was faster.

She dangled the phone over her ranch-drenched salad with a loose hold. "You're not allowed to tell anyone about this. No one, not even the poster of Justin Timberlake hanging on your wall. If you do, I will destroy every single thing you own that requires a battery and dump the remains into your toilet. ‘Kay?"

Eyes wide and lips parted slightly, Darcy only nodded once. With a smirk, Natasha handed the phone back. Her threat worked; Darcy put the phone down and folded her arms, now afraid that if she even looked at it Natasha would take it.

"Wait, so...if Steve is gay, what does that make Maria? Is she gay too or she just a really good friend?" Clint asked, shooting not-so-subtle glances at the table Maria and Steve were sitting at. They were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder and she was laughing at everything he said. They certainly looked their parts.

Natasha looked over at them as well. Then they were kissing, hands intertwined above the table. She looked away. "There's no way Hill is," she told Clint with certainty.

"What makes you say that?" Clint asked. ("Sexuality is fluid," he always said, "You never know, the meathead jock who's slept with all of the gullible underclassmen with a vagina might like dick every now and again.")

"Well," she looked over at them again. "Just look at her."

The three of them collectively looked over at Maria and Steve. Natasha didn't know anything about love - she was not unwilling to admit that she'd never even witnessed it herself - but the way that Maria looked at Steve made her wonder. The two had been best friends since birth, and if Natasha wasn't mistaken, Maria had fallen a little bit in love with him over the years.

God, that blew.

"Nat," Clint prodded her lightly with the prongs of his fork, snapping her vision away from the other table.

Both Darcy and Clint were staring at her, and it was only then that Natasha wondered if she'd been looking a bit too long. When Clint started humming 'Maria' from West Side Story, a musical neither of them would admit to have seen or liked, she realized that she had in fact been staring too long. (But Natasha wasn't gay or anything.)

She proceeded to punch him on the shoulder when Bucky joined them at the table, placing a kiss on Darcy's cheek before sitting down. "What are you guys talking about?" he asked cheerfully.

Bucky Barnes was Darcy's boyfriend and Steve Rogers' other best friend. He only sat with them because he was dating Darcy, but at least he didn't ask her to go sit with him and his friends. (She would be so crushingly awkward). Natasha liked the guy; he was good to Darcy and pretty easy on the eyes. (Clint even had a crush on him for the longest time, but Clint had a crush on every semi-decent-looking guy in their grade at one point or another). As long as he and Darcy didn't get too handsy around her, they all got along just fine.

Clint and Natasha shared a look, unsure of how to respond. Did Bucky know that Steve was gay? She assumed that he did, being Steve’s best friend and all, but she didn't want to give anything away in case he didn’t.

"Just wondering where you were," Darcy replied with an ease Natasha had to give her props for, bumping elbows with Bucky playfully.

He smiled and Natasha relaxed. "The line was insane," Bucky started, and Natasha felt herself tuning him out.

Eventually, Jane joined them and completed their strange but cozy little group.

Chatter filled the table, but Natasha couldn't bring herself to focus on any one of the conversations. She couldn't stop thinking about Maria and Steve, but it wasn't as if she knew either of them well, or at all. She was curious, more curious than she'd ever felt about any of her classmates' business, and it freaked her the fuck out. (She could almost feel Clint's smirk burning through the side of her face.)

As the bell rang and lunch concluded, Natasha gathered her things and bolted out of the lunchroom, leaving her friends behind to wonder where she’d gone. The halls were already crowding with people, but she had no doubt Clint could still find her in the rabble. The boy had vision like a goddamn hawk.

She lost herself in the crowd soon enough. She couldn't really see where she was going, being short was an annoying disadvantage in high school, but she allowed herself to be herded through the main hallway.

Ugh, she thought, AP US History. There was no way she could skip again after already missing fourth period, but Ms. Kinney didn't really care if a student was a few minutes late, so Natasha simply waded through the crowd, killing time.

When she eventually showed up to APUSH, Ms. Kinney was talking about an upcoming project. "Oh, hello dear," she greeted Natasha when she stopped in the doorway.

"Hi, I'm sorry for being late," she apologized. "I was in the restroom."

"That's alright. Just find your seat, please," the teacher said.

Natasha sat at the back of the room in the seat closest to the window. At the beginning of the year, she'd figured that it would be the best for not being called on, but it turned out to be more of a burden than a blessing. She'd had to squint to see the board more times than she cared to admit. However, her original theory proved itself correct; she was hardly ever called upon.

Her thoughts had drifted when the sound of her name penetrated the wall that was selective hearing. "Natasha?" Ms. Kinney called.

Natasha's head snapped toward the front of the room with a flick of red hair. "Yes? Sorry."

"Maria will be your partner for this project."

Shit. _Fuck_.

It was just her luck, really, that the girl she'd been smitten with – shit, not smitten (damn you Clint) – the girl she'd been _attracted_ to for the better part of her life was the person she'd gotten paired with. (But Natasha wasn't gay or anything). There was also the fact that Natasha knew that Maria and Steve's relationship was bullshit and it was covering up the fact that one or both of them was gay.

She hardly noticed when Maria took the vacated seat in front of her. "Hi," Maria greeted.

"Hi," Natasha replied, a tight, closed lipped smile stretching across her face.

"So, since we can pick any topic within the unit, I was thinking that we go over World War I and the US's involvement. I know that's a broad topic but..." Maria started rattling off facts, flipping through their textbook with purpose.

Natasha could barely listen, she was too afraid she’d say something wrong or something would slip out. So she spent the period mostly in silence, allowing Maria to take the lead, but throwing in an “uh huh” or “yeah” here or there to show that she was listening. Near the end of the period, when everyone was gathering their things, Maria closed her book and leaned closer to Natasha. “Would you maybe want to meet to work on this?” she asked.

“Um. Yeah. Sure. Where?” Okay, that wasn’t so bad.

“There’s a place on Main Street, kind of near Buddy's Pizzeria. It’s called Bluebird Coffee Shop. It’s just really quiet and they play good music, so,” Maria shrugged.

“That would be great. Tomorrow?” You’re doing good Romanoff, keep it up.

“I have a volleyball tournament tomorrow, but could you do Friday? Right after school?”

"Yeah. Friday. Sounds good," Stop speaking in such short sentences.

Maria smiled, muttered a small "bye", and left the room. Natasha let out a breath and ran a tired hand through her hair. "Shit."

XXX

"Wow, a date with Maria Hill. Nice going, Romanoff. She's a ten," Clint laughed, a joint still in his mouth.

School was out for the day, and Clint had invited everyone to an impromptu blaze up slash study session at his house. So basically, Clint and Natasha would smoke and Jane and Darcy would study. There would be no crossover between the two; both parties would make sure of it. Natasha flipped him off nonchalantly. "I acted like a complete fucking idiot. Like, I couldn't get more than four words out before starting a new sentence."

"That didn't stop her from inviting you out," Jane said, not looking up from her AP Chemistry book.

"To do a project," Natasha countered.

"She could have easily just asked to meet you at the library or something. But no, she asked you to a little hipster café that would be perfect for a romantic date," Darcy wiggled her eyebrows, munching on goldfish.

"She's not...like that," The redhead protested. “Plus, she’s taken, you morons.”

"By the gayest thing in Shield," Jane butted in again. "He's even gayer than Clint."

"Well fuck you too, Foster. I am greatly offended by that," He feigned hurt, placing a hand over his heart. "I will always be the gayest thing in this town. There is no competition."

Jane chuckled and blew a kiss toward Clint, who waved it away with a grunt. “And how do you know she’s not gay? She could be. Why else would she be dating Captain America? Either she’s a really good friend, or she’s trying to hide something too.” Captain America was a nickname for Steve they had collectively coined in the 8th grade that they could never shake.

“ _I’m_ not gay, though,” Natasha continued. A second of silence passed, and then her friends nearly fell off of their respective locations from laughing so hard. Natasha frowned deeply.

“Okay Nat. Keep telling yourself that,” Jane said. She took a few seconds to calm herself down before reading from her textbook. "A 268 centimeters cubed sample of an ideal gas at 18 degrees Celsius and 748 Torr pressure is placed in an evacuated container of volume 648 centimeters cubed. To what centigrade temperature must the assembly be heated so that the gas will fill the whole chamber at 748 Torr?" Jane read, tapping her book lightly with a pen to punctuate each word.

"It's 431 degrees. Celsius," Natasha answered grudgingly, still miffed.

Jane threw her a look that she simply shrugged in response to. "Sometimes I listen," she smirked, taking the joint out of her mouth and blowing smoke in Jane and Darcy's direction.

Darcy's face scrunched up. "That's so bad for you, Nat."

Clint laughed, coughing out the smoke in his mouth. "You can’t preach, Miss I-Drank-Five-Shots-In-One-Sitting."

Jane laughed and stole the last goldfish from Darcy's book before wiping her hand over it to deposit the crumbs on Clint's already-messy floor. "Bobbi Morse made me!" Darcy protested with a pout. "That chick has it in for me."

"Maybe you shouldn't have stolen her boyfriend," Clint raised an accusing eyebrow in her direction.

Darcy threw her pen at him and failed miserably, then Jane laughed, then Natasha laughed. Then Clint and Darcy laughed, and suddenly everyone was laughing for no reason. In Natasha's opinion, it was a normal Wednesday afternoon.

XXX

Thursday passed quickly and uneventfully, as Natasha expected it to. Maria wasn't at school because of her volleyball tournament, so Natasha spent all of APUSH staring at her textbook and taking notes (doodling, actually) in her notebook.

Friday, however, was a different story.

Maria wasn’t in APUSH again, which made Natasha wonder how often Maria and/or Steve ditched class. As evidenced by both that day and Tuesday, it seemed like the answer was “a lot”. For a split second, Natasha worried that Maria’s absence in class meant she wouldn’t show up to the Bluebird either, then Clint cackled at her from the back of her mind, and she wiped the thought away.

 _Clint_ wouldn't stop teasing her all day. "Excited for your date, Tasha? Word of advice, don't go for a kiss until one of you definitely has to leave. Otherwise it'll just be awkward after."

She didn't want to admit it, but she felt all jittery inside for the majority of the day. It wasn’t a date - she didn't know how she could be any clearer about that - but it was _Maria Hill_. (Conscience-Clint chuckled again). Maria Hill was just...ugh.

The bell rang at three and she couldn't have gotten out of school faster. With her head down, she charged through the hallways and hoped none of her friends would intercept her along the way.

She got into her car and pealed out of the parking lot. The Bluebird wasn’t more than five minutes away, but she convinced herself to take the long way around. She cruised through Shield at a Sunday driver-like speed, telling herself that there was no need to rush.

Really, she just didn’t want to get there before Maria and drive herself crazy waiting. But she would never admit that out loud.

At 3:18, she parked right outside the Bluebird, breathing a deep sigh of relief to see that Maria’s little blue Toyota was only three cars away. Cracking her knuckles (a nervous habit), she made her way into the coffee shop and was greeted with the calming sound of an acoustic guitar. “And oh, I’m feeling fine. We made it to the coastline,” the singer crooned.

The place was small and adorable. All it was really comprised of was a front counter and a back one both covered in machinery and pastries, mismatched chairs and tables spread out randomly, and a small collection of instruments pushed into a corner, which was probably the designated performance space. The smell of strong coffee was evident everywhere, and Natasha was sure that she would come out of the café smelling like it. Basically, the Bluebird achieved something Starbucks tried desperately to emulate: authenticity.

It was full but not crowded, and Natasha had no problem picking Maria out from the many bearded hipsters. She fixed her hair and made her way over to the table, where a large cup of coffee was sitting on the table in front of the chair meant for her. “Hi,” Natasha greeted with a lame wave of her hand.

Maria smiled kindly. “Hey. How’s it going?”

Natasha sat down and wiped her palms on the fabric of her jeans. _Get yourself together, damn it_ , she thought. “I got you a latte while I was waiting,” Maria pointed to the coffee cup. “The chai here is great.”

“Oh wow, thanks,” Natasha said, desperately trying not to sound nervous. She picked up the cup and took a sip. Her eyes almost bulged as the liquid reached her tongue. “That’s really good.”

Maria laughed and took a sip of her own drink. “I know, right? Peggy got me hooked on that stuff.”

Wiping her mouth with her sleeve, Natasha questioned curiously. “Peggy Carter?”

Peggy Carter was possibly the most exciting thing that ever happened to Shield. She moved into town with her family at the beginning of sophomore year from a town in England no one had ever heard of. _England_. Why anyone would want to move to a shithole like Shield from somewhere like that, Natasha would never know.

She ended up moving abruptly after about nine months and everyone in town almost exploded. They all loved her, and as far as Natasha could tell, it wasn’t unwarranted. Peggy was unnaturally kind to everyone and hot as _fuck_. What was there not to like? It didn’t surprise her that Maria had been friends with her. Beautiful people liked to flock together.

“Yeah. Okay, so do you want to start? I narrowed everything down and I’m thinking we should-wait,” Maria’s jaw dropped as she pointed to Natasha’s shirt. “Is that an Orange is the New Black reference?”

Natasha looked self-consciously down at her gray shirt. It had the words “I heart you” printed boldly on the stomach area with Alex Vause’s taped glasses hanging off of the ‘y’. “Uh, yeah, it is.”

“No fucking way!” Maria exclaimed, almost startling Natasha. “I love that show.”

As Maria began to gush about her love for Orange is the New Black, she closed her book and put it on the ground next to her. Natasha knew then that they weren’t going to get much work done, but she was also sure that she didn’t mind.

XXX

Maria was friends with the only barista on duty near closing time, so he let them stay for an extra half-hour while he cleaned up. At 10:30, they were standing outside of the Bluebird next to Natasha’s car. Lamplights illuminated the sidewalk as Maria waved goodbye to her friend.

“So,” Maria said, wrapping her scarf around her neck. “We were in there for seven hours, and that was the least productive project session that I’ve ever had.”

Natasha laughed. “I’ve actually been to worse.”

“Do you have anything going on tomorrow?” Maria asked. She began to bounce on her toes as the cold began to set in for both of them. “I mean, we should actually do a little work on this project, don’t you think?”

No, not really, Natasha thought. “Yeah, of course. Where are you thinking?”

“There’s a thing going on at the library tomorrow and I think we get too distracted here,” Maria claimed with a laugh. “Why don’t you just come over to my place? Say around two?”

A mental list of things Natasha had to get done the next day ran through her mind, but her list really only consisted of one thing – hanging out with Clint – and really, she could just blow that off. “Sure. Can you give me the address?”

“Yeah, I’ll text it to you,” Maria said.

One of Natasha’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t remember giving you my number.”

“Oh, I got it from Clint.” Fucking Clint. “I remembered that I didn’t ask you for it during APUSH so I asked him during art. He’s always talking about you.”

Somewhere in Shield, Clint Barton was laughing gleefully, like the asshole he was. “I should go,” Maria continued.

They exchanged goodbyes and then Maria was on her way.

Natasha sat in her car, head resting against the back of her seat. She couldn’t help the smile that stretched excitedly across her face. Everything about the past hours felt like a first date, an inconceivably perfect first date. Butterflies began to flutter up from her stomach, to her chest and her neck and down to her toes, until the giddiness almost exploded out of her body in the form of an excited, girly squeal.

She pulled her phone out to call Clint and wondered what it would be like to kiss Maria.

But Natasha wasn’t gay.

Was she?


End file.
